


Pale

by Corovera



Series: 100 Themes one-shot challenge [51]
Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: Gen, spoilers for a fifteen year old game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 04:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7028536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corovera/pseuds/Corovera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>51/100. It seemed like a good imitation of life, at first, but an imitation was all it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pale

On the surface, being Unsent wasn't that different than being alive. You could do just about everything the same – eat, sleep, talk to people, interact with the world like anyone else. Once Auron had reached Zanarkand, he didn't need to worry about being recognized. All he had to do was stick around and keep an eye on Jecht's son. And there, cut off from the reality of Spira proper, he could almost forget that he was supposed to be dead.

Almost.

There were little things that weren't quite the same, and it took him a while to figure it out. His sense of taste was the first thing he noticed. Even the most familiar of foods didn't taste right. Sometimes he couldn't taste anything at all. And no matter how long he went without food, he never got hungry. More than once, Tidus had to remind him to eat. The boy figured it was another weird quirk of Auron's. Auron allowed him to think that.

Sleep was another thing that didn't work the same way. He didn't need that either, and when he did it anyway, he slept light. On top of that, he never had dreams. That was something he was almost grateful for. If he'd been able to dream, he doubted it would have been anything pleasant.

His sense of touch was inconsistent. He barely felt heat or cold, and wind always felt more like it was blowing through him than onto him. It was an unsettling feeling – one that made it impossible to really forget what he'd become.

Eventually, the time came for him to return to Spira. Zanarkand had stood, like he had, between reality and dreams – between life and death. But Spira was unquestionably real, and Auron felt more like the ghost he was than he ever had in Zanarkand. Here, his entire being felt fragile, like he might vanish at any minute – or worse, become one of the fiends the group fought. He clung to his desire to break Sin's cycle, and keep Yuna from sharing her father's fate. As it stood, he was the only one who knew the truth about the Summoner's Pilgrimage. Without him, nothing would ever change. He wasn't sure how to stop the cycle, but he knew it had to be done. If anyone could find a way, it was Tidus, Yuna, and the rest of them. He would return to the Farplane someday, he told himself, but not yet. Not until things were made right.

Being Unsent was a pale imitation of life, as much as it might have once seemed otherwise. But Auron didn't care. This wasn't about him. It was about doing what Braska couldn't, and about setting Jecht free. So for now, he had to keep fighting, for the sake of those who still lived.


End file.
